Rang De Basanti - A Review

Watched Rang De Basanti yesterday. Went in with high expectations. Came out slightly disappointed.

Movie starts off well, setting the stage for the story of the transformation of a bunch of carefree youth into people who really begin to care for their country, while shooting a film about a group of its greatest martyrs. Rakeysh Mehra starts off, telling us about the Brit, Sue, who comes to India in search of actors who can act out the parts of the Hindustan Republican Army members, whose lives are documented so well in her grandfather's diary. Her search for the perfect cast, her thrill at finding the right people for her project, her anguish at their failure to gauge the depths of their respective characters, all these emotions are captured very nicely by the director. In the midst of all this, we get introduced to a suave pilot who is loved by all around him. Unfortunately, he dies in an all too familiar MiG-21 crash. Now, the problem begins.

It is about at this point that the movie begins to lose steam. What had started out as a nice eye-opener for the youth, now becomes your average Hindi movie of revenge and thirst for your enemy's blood. The youngsters end up committing a grave crime. A crime, which they think their victim is also guilty of. Finally, there ends up being no difference between them and their victim. Maybe....if the movie was handled in a better way, it could have been looked upon as a people mover. One which can influence the youth of this country to do something.

Amongst the actors, Soha Ali Khan is soothing to watch and looks quite cute. Her presence is very refreshing. Kunal Kapoor, Sharman Joshi and Siddharth, all turn in decent performances. Atul Kulkarni is perfect as the smouldering Laxman Pandey. The Brit actress ( I am sorry, but I keep forgetting her name) is also good. She seems to have taken some pains, learning Hindi. Amir Khan is the biggest disappointment for me. I had great expectations from this versatile actor, and I feel let down by his performance in this movie. He seems to have a hangover of DCH here. Maybe, I would have called a similar performance by lesser actor, brilliant. But, I feel Madhavan walks away with the best role of all. Pretty smart move by him to sign this movie.

Go watch it, but please dont get carried away by the end.